The quest to capture life's moments that matter strikes a responsive chord in 2018

By

Robert Goldrich

Though it’s not BBDO New York’s most heralded spot of 2018, American Family Insurance’s “Road Trip” is worthwhile in its own right while at the same time eloquently capturing the spirit behind the stellar creative which earned the shop distinction as SHOOT’s Agency of the Year.

Directed by Jamie Rafn of Smuggler, “Road Trip” centers on a young man who hardly looks the part of a pioneering adventurer--yet he perseveres, grappling with confusing directions and navigating rugged terrain to reach a summit vantage point that yields a breathtaking view. We then learn what drives him on his journey as he phones his baby sister, a young woman on bed-rest coping with an illness, to show her the world’s most perfect sunrise. She smiles, telling her big bro that what’s next on the bucket list itinerary is “throwing a snowball at the North Pole.” He responds, “You got it.”

This brother’s quest for the moment that matters is akin to what BBDO NY did so successfully in 2018, finding moments and stories that were relevant, profound, evoked empathy and ultimately resonated with audiences across different platforms.

This is reflected in a year for BBDO marked by high-profile awards and ongoing content creation that connects and rings true with viewers.

On the honors front, look no further than Procter & Gamble’s “The Talk,” which earned assorted accolades this past awards season, including a Cannes Lions Film Grand Prix, an AICP Show honor for direction, and most recently the coveted primetime commercial Emmy. Directed by Malik Vitthal of The Corner Shop, the PSA features different African-American parents having “The Talk” with their kids about racial bias and how it can make life more difficult—and at times dangerous. In one of this piece’s most poignant moments, a girl behind the wheel of a car insists she’s a good driver and her mom doesn’t need to tell her what to do if she gets pulled over. The girl has no intention of getting pulled over because she obeys the speed limit and the rules of the road. Mom doesn’t doubt that but she has to explain to her daughter, “This is not about you getting a ticket. This is about you not coming home.”

“The Talk” was one of two BBDO NY spots nominated for this year’s primetime commercial Emmy Award--the other being the Monica Lewinsky anti-bullying PSA titled “In Real Life.” Directed by Win Bates via BBDO Studios (a freelancer at the time, Bates has since joined production house Tool of North America), “In Real Life” serves as a powerful exploration of bullying by recasting the issue and asking the question: “If this behavior is unacceptable in real life, why is it so normal online?” The hidden camera film chronicles people publicly acting out real online comments to illustrate that at the receiving end of every comment is a real person--a fact all too easy to forget in today’s online culture. While the bullies and the targets of denigrating talk in the PSA are actors, those who intervene to stop the bullying are real people, which gives a life-affirming positive tone to the work.

As for BBDO NY’s continuing content creation in 2018, consider the follow-up to “In Real Life,” the Lewinsky anti-bullying piece “Defy the Name,” directed by Brian Billow of O Positive. The PSA disarms the most common type of bullying behavior, name calling, by featuring an all-star cast acknowledging the hurtful names they were called as young people. Now we see them in situations that highlight their success and achievements.

The #DefyTheName initiative additionally encourages those on social media to change their name (not username) to reflect their bullied name (i.e. John “Bullied Name” Doe) and share the campaign’s PSA and/or their own story. The net effect flooded social media with myriad examples proving that bullying and name-calling don’t reflect one’s real self-worth. It especially sends a powerful message to teens: Don’t let the name define you. #DefyTheName.

The Emmy recognition for “The Talk” and “In Real Life” as well as the creative wherewithal reflected in “Defy the Name” underscore new growing dimensions at BBDO. On one hand we see the tangible results of agency in-house efforts (“In Real Life”) juxtaposed with the success of seeking outside talent (director Billow for “Defy the Name”). This high-level of performance in terms of both in-house and outside resources is a dynamic that David Rolfe, BBDO NY’s EVP, director of integrated production, has made a priority.

The 2018 Emmy showing meanwhile reflects BBDO’s history with the TV Academy as well as a prime new wrinkle. On the former score, BBDO won the very first primetime commercial Emmy in 1997 for HBO’s “Chimps.” This year’s pair of nominations brought the agency’s tally to 16 over the years and the win for “The Talk” is the third commercial Emmy for BBDO NY. (Earlier, in ‘91, HBO’s “Foreman” won in the Image category.) Sandwiched in-between winning spots “Chimps” and “The Talk” is FedEx’s “Stick” which received the Emmy in 2006.

As for the new twist, 2018 marked the first time that BBDO’s Emmy-recognized work tackled social issues--bullying and race relations. Furthermore, “The Talk” and “In Real Life” are from core creative teams who this year became first-time Emmy nominees, showcasing the up-and-coming premium talent that is rising throughout the agency. Those first timers are creative director/art director Bianca Guimaraes and associate creative director/copywriter Roberto Danino on “In Real Life,” and associate creative director/art director Bryan Barnes and ACD/copywriter Nedal Ahmed on “The Talk.” (Ahmed has since joined Droga5 NY as sr. copywriter.) Guimaraes and Danino again came together on “Defy the Name.”

The impact of turning out socially relevant work has an impact that positively influences the entire agency culture. “‘The Talk’ has such a cultural impact outside our normal market,” related Greg Hahn, chief creative officer of BBDO NY. “It got people speaking about something that is very difficult to talk about. Nobody at this agency held back on that work. It wasn’t put through a filter. It was very honest. And it’s that truth, working on something greater than you, that gives a deep sense of purpose, that raises the morale and expectations of everyone here.”

And that creative selflessness and profound sense of purpose draws in all kinds of business, even work that is not directly tied to social issues. The creative and communications wherewithal, for instance, helped BBDO NY recently score one of the major business wins of 2018--becoming the lead creative agency on Ford’s global business.

“I think what made 2018 a special year was not just the work--but that it was not just one tone, one medium, one kind of execution,” observed Hahn. “We created a wide palette, a variety of work, all kinds of problem solving. We don’t have one style. There is not a BBDO style in the conventional sense. Our only style is to set the bar high. People shouldn’t be able to see an ad and say that’s a BBDO ad because of its style or approach. Instead, they should realize it’s a BBDO ad because no matter what form it takes, it lives up to a degree of high quality, is smart, feels right, and touches you on some level.”

Creative touchIndeed the volume of work from BBDO NY in 2018 that touched hearts and minds is too vast to comprehensively detail. “We’re an agency that makes aggressively and abundantly,” said Rolfe. “We’ve broadened our production capabilities, our expression, extending from our business and creative culture. In some respects, we are cavalier, insistent on trying things, experimenting, working with ideas.”

A unifying theme is that the work often shows a social conscience extending from public service fare to deeply defining brand identity and commitment.

Among the highlights of 2018 was the first-ever PSA for the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund. Titled “Daughter and Mother,” the ad was created pro bono and directed by David Shane of O Positive. In the piece, we see a young girl serving as caregiver for her youthful mom. The stress on the youngster is palpable. At one point, the girl frantically searches for her mom who is missing from the house. The pursuit leads the youngster outside in the pouring rain where she finally finds her mom standing in the middle of the street. Then, there is a transformation as the young girl becomes a young woman and her confused, out-of-touch mom is now elderly. Supered messages appear on screen which read: “You wouldn’t put your daughter through this when she’s young”; “Let’s make sure it doesn’t happen when she’s older.”

To mark International Women’s Day in 2018, BBDO New York launched “It’s Time to Redefine,” a public-awareness campaign designed to challenge the definition of a woman as it currently appears in online dictionary resources. A review of these sources reveals that the existing definition of “woman” includes terms such as “servant,” “mistress,” and “prostitute.” “It’s Time to Redefine” sparked a movement to change the definition. The campaign included a PSA calling on people to sign an online petition to help bring to light the disparities in the online definition of “woman” and, instead, to celebrate the countless contributions women have made in society.

“Words matter,” said Kirsten Flanik, president and CEO, BBDO New York. “Words have the power to determine how people feel about themselves and, ultimately, what they believe they are capable of. To achieve women’s equality, a great place to start is by choosing words that accurately and positively reflect women.”

BBDO also continued its moving work for Sandy Hook Promise, this time in response to the murders of 17 high school students in Parkland, Florida. A chilling piece shows us a student talking about signs to watch for when identifying a potential shooter; it turns out he himself has plans to become a mass murderer.

Chilling also describes BBDO NY’s deployment of animation in Sunshine for the nonprofit Day One. The short produced by the Lobo studio shows a budding young love moving from the blissfully early stages of carnival-won stuffed animals and selfies to a gradually more jealous, controlling and abusive rapport.

But beyond pure public service, BBDO NY connected major clients to human issues--cut from the same cloth that enabled P&G to bring us “The Talk.” There’s AT&T’s “The Face of Distracted Driving: Caleb’s Story” directed by Oscar-winning documentarian Errol Morris of Biscuit Filmworks that shows us the ongoing impact of Caleb Sorohan’s death on his family and friends--and society at large. If Caleb hadn’t died as a teen due to distracted driving, might he today be pursuing his dream job? Would he be helping and teaching others? Maybe he’d still be figuring life out. Forensic artists and VFX teams recreate what Caleb would look like today had he not been killed, delving into what he might be doing with his life.

BBDO NY’s Winter Olympics fare for GE also shows us “What Matters.” Directed by Todd Field via Smuggler, the campaign touches upon the technological advancements that GE has made. Yet they pale by comparison to what they mean for people in everyday life--like a mom whose premature baby benefited from GE innovation. Mom will be taking her baby daughter home tomorrow.

The human connection is even evident in the perennially humorous FedEx fare as BBDO NY’s corporate brand campaign for the client captures the emotional side of package delivery as captured in four films directed by Biscuit’s Noam Murro.

Macy’s work from BBDO in 2018 also tugged at the heartstrings. The anthem “Space Station” spot--directed by Martin de Thurah of Epoch Films--for Macy’s holiday campaign centers around an astronaut who is in space over the holiday season, and her seven year-old daughter, Mia. The mom keeps in contact with her family over video transmission, and keeping her company in space is Sunny, a snow pal hand-made by Mia. As the spot unfolds, you see the wonder of the holiday season through an ingenious plan hatched by Mia. The piece ends with the line, “Believe in the Wonder of Giving.”

2018 was also a strong year for comedy, a BBDO staple, with continued efforts for the likes of Snickers and a recently unveiled tongue-in-cheek online film promoting a faux line of “Espresso-Wear” that demonstrates people’s passion for Dunkin’s new espresso drinks. The functional fashion in the short--directed by Brian Billow of O Positive--includes Cappu-chinos, Americano-veralls and Latte-nk Tops. This wardrobe allows people to keep their hands free and their espresso drinks close by--in their expansive pockets--at all times.

InnovationBBDO NY added to its reputation for innovation in 2018, garnering for example a D&AD Awards Yellow Pencil and two Webby Awards for Live Looper, a Facebook Live music video for Downtown Records’ band The Academic. The project took advantage of the social media platform’s time delay to produce an infinite audio and visual loop effect, with the band’s performance of “Bear Claws” getting more mesmerizing with each loop, adding instruments, rhythms and melodies. And last month BBDO NY engineered a social media hack yielding Bacardi Instant Jams which transforms the rarely used “Peek and Pop” feature on Instagram into a drum machine. Pairing the phone and the Bacardi USA Instagram page, Instant Jams allows users to mix tracks, add sound effects and become their very own DJs.

BBDO NY’s penchant for taking the unconventional path also surfaced in the form of an anime-inspired miniseries, The Sun and the Snake, that helped ASICS launch its “Welcome to the Dojo” clothing and footwear line exclusively at Foot Locker. The series and a resulting longer form film were directed by Dipankar Sengupta of animation studio Shotopop.

“I’m proud of this place because we break the rules,” said Rolfe. “We don’t do it boastfully. We do it actively as a way of agency life. Many people at our agency work at eliminating the businesss-based hindrances that so many agencies have. It keeps us healthy and we turn that health into an unbridled willingness to make disruptive things.”

Innovating and raising the creative bar are dynamics that are nurtured in part by the entire BBDO network, according to worldwide CCO David Lubars. “It’s an ‘anti-vicious cycle’ of ideas being generated,” assessed Lubars who sees a friendly competition among BBDO offices escalating the work worldwide. “New York raises the bar and then we’ll see something in Chicago or overseas that again raises the bar for New York to shoot for. Plus we have partnerships which yield great work.”

Among those partnerships is what Lubars described as “one big family” on AT&T. For example, BBDO NY group ECD Matt MacDonald oversees the AT&T business but he works closely with the L.A.-based operation which became fully operational in 2018 to service AT&T Entertainment. MacDonald recruited ECDs David Povill and David Cuccinello from TBWA\Media Arts Lab to take the L.A. creative helm for BBDO on AT&T. Their output includes a lauded series of cinema ads, including the recent SHOOT Top Spot “Shot” in which a young man sinks the winning shot in a basketball game to the delight of the home crowd. But in the post-game locker room, the story takes a turn as our hero is attacked by two men and revealed to be a robotic creature. A super simply reads, “From sports drama to sci-fi,” underscoring the wide range of entertainment fare available through AT&T. Directed by Biscuit’s Steve Rogers, this piece continues AT&T’s series of cinema mashup spots which blended movie genres in completely unexpected ways--romance and horror in “Surprise” and suspense and a musical in “Bus.”

2018 also saw an infusion of major creative talent into BBDO NY, prime examples being Daniela Vojta and Susan Young who joined the agency this past summer as executive creative directors, overseeing AT&T’s Business Solutions and Corporate advertising. They had previously been ECDs at McCann New York, leading creative development on Microsoft where, among other accomplishments, they spearheaded the Girls in STEM initiative, started the annual Patent Program for Women and helped launch Windows 10 globally. Efforts in support of “March for Our Lives” also made a difference, while earning five Lions at the recent Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

Another recent coming together of BBDO offices yielded Pedigree’s “Season of Good Dog” holiday campaign--on which BBDO NY and Colenso BBDO New Zealand teamed. The campaign is fronted by Good Dog, an innocent family pooch with a self-centered sense of holiday traditions. The dog believes he is being celebrated on Xmas Day--with a tree for his love of sticks, baubles for his love of fetch, and wrapping paper for his love of ripping. A homeless dog up for adoption enters the picture. Upon the new “Awww” dog joining the family, Good Dog discovers and embraces the true meaning of the holiday--the “Season of Good Dogs.”

This sense of sharing--whether it be between dogs or agency offices--permeates the BBDO culture. NY CCO Hahn said that to promote sharing, he and Lubars have made it a priority “to go out of our way to eliminate as many layers as possible so we can let people do the work and seek out others if needed. Doing a good job is hard enough without any political barriers,” he affirmed. Hahn added that he and Lubars do not want BBDO to operate like a big agency but rather as “a global boutique” that can be “quick, nimble,” innovative and collaborative.

Lubars cautioned, though, that while clearing a path so that creatives can be their best is important, that “doesn’t mean your people can do anything they want.” Elements such as “discipline,” “rigor” and “staying smart” are essential.

Part of being smart, pointed out Hahn, is properly defining goals. He recalled a story years ago when the people at Audi were challenged to win Le Mans which had been the province of Ferrari. The engineers kept trying to build faster cars but no matter what they did, Le Mans was out of reach. “Do you want a faster car or do you want to win Le Mans?” became the pivotal question. For the latter, you didn’t need a faster car but a more fuel efficient one to cut down on the number of pit stops. For Hahn, this underscores that “you have to solve the right problem. That leads to executions and activations that will be successful.”

5C’sContributing to BBDO’s success in 2018 were the varied relationships and resources needed from a making-of perspective to stay relevant in the marketplace--and reflected in what Rolfe has pinpointed as being the “5 C’s of BBDO production.” The C’s are Craft, Commissioning, Curation, Creation and Collaboration.

Craft is for production that is premium, hands-on and outsourced, dovetailing with a director, production house and other talent. Examples are abundant, evident and perennial in the BBDO mix from AT&T to FedEx and American Family Insurance.

The “C” of Creation meanwhile has become increasingly significant in the mix, covering in-house making, immediacy production, social-centric and/or platform/tech intensive fare via BBDO Studios; leading examples include the Emmy-nominated Lewinsky work and the Live Looper project. BBDO Studios capabilities and talent have steadily increased.

Commissioning is adopting a hands-off approach with a trusted maker. Relying on a partner to perform from a soup-to-nuts standpoint, Commissioning includes such standout examples as Foot Locker’s The Sun and the Snake, the animated miniseries from the Shotopop studio. Rolfe noted that “ample autonomy by our animation and storytelling partner yielded a much deeper dive into that story than we could have hoped for had we worked through a more traditional working process.”

Rolfe observed, “The commissioning model is one that will continue to grow, as we foray further into projects both smaller (social, for instance) and importantly, larger, as we endeavor further into different entertainment models in branded work.”

For Collaboration, BBDO partners with content sources, publishers, platforms and influencers--a prime example still being GE’s The Message podcast series of a couple years ago in which, noted Rolfe, “the production was very squarely placed within the podcast company that also led in its distribution.”

For Curation, the prime example is quite recent with Bacardi’s “Music Liberates Music” initiative in which up-and-coming artists were called upon to submit their best “Sound of Rum” inspired tracks. This music video project, said Rolfe, “effectively maker-sourced (a higher end version of crowd-sourced) a series of five eclectic videos, with BBDO Studios acting as portal.”

For Rolfe, the 5C’s and their development helped to make 2018 a successful and enlightening year. “We really hit full throttle in terms of an expansive making mentality. We are limitless in our creation--that’s the feeling that has become fluid across the creative and production departments, knowing that every good idea can be realized, understanding what we can do in-house, through collaboration, recognizing all the different making outlets and bending those into our agency aperture. This has helped to transform BBDO even further, bringing in new dimensions of experiential work, influencer collaborations. You’ll see more from us as we move forward in such areas as IP.”

Moving forward is key for Lubars--and that includes moving forward from any Agency of the Year honor. In 2018, BBDO NY earned Agency of the Year distinction from the Webby Awards, D&ADs, the Art Directors Club Awards and The One Show, among other competitions. Lubars noted that the real litmus test is attaining a high creative and business plane year after year. “It’s the agencies that have that consistency that I respect--the agencies who continually do breakthrough, culturally significant work that moves the needle for their clients. There are some agencies that do it once or twice and live off the fumes. That’s not us. You have to be continually creating, learning, growing--both valuing the work and at the same time not treating everything like it’s precious.”

Flanik affirmed, “We don’t rest on our laurels. We never stop moving, evolving, changing. The size, scope, shape and form of the work is constantly expanding.”

She added, “Perhaps what I’m most proud of is our ability to adapt, change and evolve so quickly while still staying true to exactly who we are. We’re taking brands in different directions to connect with consumers but always staying authentic, meaningful and true to each brand.”